Category: home

Quiet…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay2 Comments
Quiet is not a word typically synonymous for our home, by any stretch of the word. Our dogs bark. Our youngest screams and yells… Sometimes we yell too. We love music. When we watch movies, the sound is high enough to really feel it. 
Then, though, a stretch of days come that surprise us with their quiet. 
Peaceful words. 
Calm emotions. 
Currents of love and compassion. 
For that brief moment of time there is no excess noise, no tension. 
Quiet. 
We’ve had a quiet week. It’s been lovely. I have read an entire book. I am caught up on freelance deadlines. We’ve had soft conversations, tender snuggles and smiles. Lots of smiles. 
This week, I’m really loving the quiet… {though my blog is not…} 
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The most non-memorable of memorable moments…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay3 Comments
I think Chw was wishing, going into this past three day weekend, that this is what his trilogy of days off might look like. (With a veggie burger, of course.) I went into it imagining the photo moments with which I could post and share with you all. 
Photos I have to share from 72 hours of togetherness and summer kick off weekend bliss= BIG FAT ZERO! 
We had originally planned to go camping. Nope. Big fat fail there too. 
No picnics. No long bike rides. No barbecuing. 
what did we do, you ask? 
Stayed inside, mostly. Played the wii. Got caught up in watching Dark Shadows on Netflix. {No, I am not kidding… I love that silly show, and now Gen does too. Chw hated it, until this weekend, and now he wants to watch it all of the time.} At one point the girls went roller skating. For an afternoon we all ventured the rain and black clouds accompanied by gross wind to go to lunch and a movie. Over all though, our three days lasted almost forever because we did a whole lot of nothing. Aimlessly sleeping in as long as we needed, no planned meals… (since we were supposed to be camping and stuff.) 
Though I am a planner and am left with the guilt that we wasted our time- secretly I loved it. We aren’t the people who let any weekend pass like this- much less an extra long one. So, I guess the hammocked hopes of my husband weren’t far from the truth, after all, only he was laying around dry and in the house instead of wet outside… he totally deserved a long weekend of nothing! 
Oh yeah, and (aside from togetherness with my family) the absolute highlight of my weekend was listening to Ellie Goulding. If you aren’t familiar, I STRONGLY encourage you to become so. It’s been quite awhile since I stumbled across someone, musically, that I really loved almost instantly. 
So, what was the highlight of your three day weekend? 
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Fear of change… Change the fear…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay5 Comments
I was chatting with my sister Jennie this morning, about how quickly things change. How quickly her plans to stay home all summer became an entirely different plan involving the east coast, traveling with her kids and Independence Day. To a more tragic tune is how quickly so many in Joplin (and other areas) went from a normal Sunday afternoon to mass devastation. 
My friday trip to buy bread led us to the path of moving. 
After the details were (mostly) ironed out, Chw’s greatest affliction- the fear- set in. There is so much pressure heaped upon the shoulders of a man. Thankfully I’ve been his wife for the better part of seventeen years and I knew this tide of fear would come in. 
The tide always comes rises… 
When he confessed to me, today, his fears- I was ready. 
In complete seriousness he exclaimed that this bad feeling he had was stronger than any bad feeling he’s ever had. It’s not like any other time before, he assured me. Finally, after he’d exhaled all of his worries and the pressures behind his worries he told me that he just didn’t know if it was a good decision. 
“in your bad feeling, do you feel fear?” 
Yes, a lot of fear. he exclaimed, before back tracking a little bit. He knew where I was headed…
“If your bad feeling, this dooming certainty had no traces of fear than I’d be more inclined to trust it as a premonition or sign from God. God doesn’t speak to us through fear though, and so I’m pretty sure we’re ok to move forward. What do you think? 
And really, in six weeks when we’re settled into the house and all of the work is behind us- he’ll feel no inkling of that sickening fear. Usually I’m the one who struggles more with the change but not this time. :) Hopefully Chw can say the same too because that’s a pretty miserable seat to sit in… 
So, we move forward… I’m excited to take on this new project, and this new journey, complete with pictures. It’s NOTHING like we thought our summer would kick off- but we are ok with that… 
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Signed, Realistically Hopeful…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay9 Comments
When we lost our house, in Michigan, back in 2007 and made the very quick decision to stick our hypothetical tail between our legs and move home- we promptly moved into the very first rental we could find that would work for us. Though it  is far too standard/cookie cutter for our tastes, (literally EVERY TIME someone new comes over they tell us of another person they know who has our same exact floor plan.) it’s been a good house. We moved into it with a lot of work needing to be done, and a property manager who- once the lease was signed- failed to do any of it. We’ve repaired and painted, dug up and replanted… Over the past four years this very standard rental has become home. 
We could have moved, with each lease renewal, but we stayed. 
Partly we just didn’t want to move, and partly we were fine here… 
Then, in January, people bought the house next door. People who have multiple screaming matches every week. People who fail to supervise their very young children who do things like run around the culdesac with knives, steal our mail, throw their garbage in our yard and pull out the neighbors flowers. The man counterpart of the “new” neighbors is very violent and frankly, we just keep to ourselves. The police are next door at least once per week and since this became our “new normal” we’ve begun to entertain the thought of moving. Months passed though, and our lease renewal date approached. (July 1) 
On Friday, just like any other day, I drove by this little farm house that I’ve driven by a million other times. I’d never noticed it until that little “for rent” sign was out front. Sharing it with Chw, we allowed ourselves a twinge of excitement and called to do a walk through. 
We love this house. 
It needs some work. It needs some paint. It needs some major clean up. And, well, like I mentioned- it’s old. But we love it. So much character. Genny cried when she saw the yard and the trees, the chicken coop and the “geese”. (which are actually ducks, but whatever.) She wants this house more than we do, and that’s really saying a lot. Plus, in our cookie cutter neighborhood there are no kids Gen’s age, but at the farm house the next door neighbors have a 12 year old girl. Genny nearly fainted…
And honestly, this house couldn’t be more perfect for us! And oh, it has SO MUCH character! 
Chw has been there three times now, and met with the owners. Gen and I have been there twice. We’ve offered to take on the work, (we like that kind of stuff) in exchange for them holding the house through June. They’re thinking about it. I guess there is an elderly couple interested in the house and the wife of the owner would rather they have it because they are older and won’t be having any drunken raging parties. The husband seems interested in not being responsible for all of the work that needs done so it appears he favors us moving in. 
We find out tomorrow. I’m nervous. While I truly am fine renewing and staying here, where our things are already unpacked and there is only a summer looming ahead of us- with no major renovations and home restoration projects- I really do want that house. 
Cross your fingers for us, please??? 
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